There’s nothing quite like a little encouragement to give you a boost and help you go that extra mile.  This morning, I went to my usual Wednesday morning spinning class at 5:30am.  I had gotten up extra early in order to go to the grocery store before my class.  I also caved and bought some iced coffee while I was there.  It’s going to be a long day (with no nap in sight), so I figured I deserved a treat.  :)  As I was adjusting my bike and warming up, my instructor told me that his wife loves my blog and has been very inspired (I love you Jenny!)  That completely made my day!  As I was talking with an old friend last night, I simply told her that the reason I do all of this (cleaning, organizing, consulting) is because I LOVE it.  I love the instant gratification.  I love how much simpler it makes my life.  I love the encouragement I get from my husband when he comes home to a clean house and dinner on the table.  But most of all, I LOVE that not everyone thinks like I do, but most everyone can benefit from my help!  I came to the realization that most people do not like cleaning.  Most people hate the thought of spending a day cleaning out and organizing their closets, and that is where I come in!  Whether you need a nudge in the right direction, a little help to get started, or you need me by your side to the end of your project, I want to help!  The purpose of my blog is to encourage and build you up!  If you are inspired by the tidbits of my life that I include in my blog, let me know!  I’m so encouraged to know that even though I don’t have a gigantic number of clients at this moment, I’m still touching lives and encouraging readers (mostly women I’m assuming) to embrace their role in their home and make the very best of it!  Getting organized makes life so much easier.  My mother has asked me to tackle every closet in her house while I’m there for Thanksgiving vacation.  I’ve also organized an entire hope chest (and lifetime) of free floating photos from her house.  I’ll be returning those in a labeled photo album and organized in chronological order. 

I’m starting a monthly challenge by having readers send me pictures of a current organizational challenge in their home/life.  I’ll help you get started with a plan on how to get your particular space organized, and then you can send me the after picture and I’ll post them on my website.  In fact, from now until January 1, 2009, I will come to your house for FREE and help all of my local friends with any organizational challenge you don’t feel you can tackle on your own.  Just for fun!  Just because I love you guys and I want to make your life easier!  Email the photos of your challenging space to audrey@madetoorganize.com.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

~audrey

I love Mondays.  The only place I have to go on Mondays is piano lessons at 11am.  The rest of the day is all mine.  Mondays are a chance to start over.  Regardless of how last week turned out, this week has the potential for greatness.  The things I do on Mondays lay the foundation for where my week will go.  For example:  Every Monday I change our sheets, take inventory of all the food in the house, plan my menu, make a grocery list, complete any laundry from the weekend, and do a general cleaning of the whole house (nothing detailed, just the basics).  Of course my Mondays include lists of many kinds; to-do lists, grocery lists, lesson plans, and errands to be run.  This is your chance to set some goals for the week.  Don’t be unrealistic, but do challenge yourself.  For example, last week was the beginning of November.  Therefore, my goals for November included working out three mornings a week at 5am and quitting coffee (I know, it’s crazy!).  So far, so good!  I weened myself from the coffee last week and now I haven’t had any since Friday.  I think I’m finally over the headaches and can make it through my day without a nap.  I worked out four days last week and then the family went for a two hour bike ride on Saturday.  That was a great start for me.  Now it is Monday again.  I worked out this morning and now I need to get off the computer and get started on the rest of my lists!  Be productive.  Set your timer!  Write everything down.  It is very rewarding to sit down in the evening and be able to look at everything you accomplished that day.  Especially if you’re a stay at home mom and your husband wonders what you do all day…as if you actually have free time!  Have a Marvelous Monday!!

~audrey

Over the years, my dear husband helped me come to the realization that I was a major control freak.  I never accepted help for anything because I was afraid it either wouldn’t get done, or it wouldn’t get done the way I wanted it done.  Of course this issue with control continued into motherhood.  When my first two boys, Joshua and Jesse, were very little, I did EVERYTHING for them.  When most parents were putting a bowl of spaghetti in front of their toddler, I was cutting it up into millimeter sized bites and feeding it to them on a spoon.  My babies never wore bibs.  They never had the opportunity to get messy!  I can’t remember the first time I allowed Joshua or Jesse to have a ‘sucker’, but it certainly wasn’t in the first two years of their life.  The clothing that Owen, my sixteen month old, is wearing right now, is clothing that both Joshua and Jesse wore when they were that age.  It is in ‘like new’ condition.  That is partly because Joshua is just as much of a neat freak as his mother and he never liked to be dirty as a toddler.  The other reason is simply because I didn’t let them get nasty.  As I’ve gained more wisdom and knowledge, little by little, whether through experience or the advice of other mommy friends, I’ve learned to loosen up.  For example, my best friend laughed histarically of the picture of Owen with chili all over his hands and face and the bowl sitting right in front of him at his highchair.  Joshua and Jesse have NO pictures like that.  However, now that I have four other mouths to feed, the convenience of having my toddler feed himself appeals to me more than the idea of a clean baby after mealtime.   Does it leave a little more work for me after dinner?  Yes.  But was I able to actually sit down and eat my own food at the same time as the rest of my family?  Yes!  Ironically, I feel like I have better control of my household as a whole as I’ve gained experience over the years.  I cook more, the laundry stays under control, my house stays pretty clean, and I’m on top of our finances.  Yet through that process, I’ve learned to let go.  I’ve learned that life is simply too short to push my kids aside for one more hour just so I can finish cleaning my kitchen.  I’ve forced myself to look back on my own childhood and what I was able to experience when I was six years old.  Life was fun.  We were care-free!  And that lead me to examine how my children would describe their lives on any given day.  I want them to be able to look back and smile because… “Mommy would let us splash naked in the puddles of our driveway after it rained.  We went on wild adventures in the backyard with flashlights and mom’s gardening shovels.  We rode bikes by the river until our legs could no longer push the peddles.  Daddy took us camping all the time and we’d stay up late looking at stars and roasting marshmallows.  Mommy and Daddy always found a way to turn discipline into a life lesson, never without quoting the word of God.  We turned everyday errands into acts of service for those less fortunate.  We learned the value of a servant spirit.  We had a great childhood!”  I’ve learned to evaluate my priorities daily.  At the end of each day, I ask myself; did I spend valuable quality time with the Lord, my husband, and my children?  Because the truth is, whether I cleaned my house, did a load of laundry, or had a gourmet meal on the table doesn’t matter in view of eternity.  Have you learned to let go?  Do you choose to laugh as many times as possible every single day?  I challenge you to let yourself relax.  Enjoy all the little things that you take for granted in your life.  Take a long bath with your favorite book.  Go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink if it means 20 more minutes of quality time with your husband.  Or better yet, let your kids do the dishes and let them splash each other and make a mess while they do it!  They’ll remember that much better than what you made for dinner or whether the kitchen was clean when they woke up the next morning.  Life is too short to sweat the small stuff.

~audrey

I wish I had gotten this conversation on video, I just might have won $10,000. 

The boys and I were out running errands when we pulled up to a stop light at an off ramp.  There was quite a bit of traffic, so we were probably ten cars back from the light.  Keep in mind, there is a LOT of construction going on in our area and there are signs everywhere about where to go, where not to go, what you can and can’t do…you get the picture!  I heard Jesse ask, “Hey, what does that sign mean?”  This is what he was looking at:

Joshua, being the very intellegent, know-it-all that he is, replied very matter-of-factly:

“Jesse, that means there is no ‘p’ there.”

Jesse replied, “What do you mean?”  so Joshua went on to explain, “You can’t get out of the car and pee on the road right there!”  I guess Jesse simply accepted that answer because he just said, “oh, ok.”  and that was that!

I feel I need to inform some of you that this is coming from two boys who, before we had a very serious conversation about it, would pee absolutely ANYWHERE!  If we were outside, it was male ‘pee’ territory.  Oh yes, they’ve dropped drawers in the church parking lot, walmart parking lot, the neighborhood playground (on a tree of course), our front yard…you name it, they’ve probably ‘marked it!’.  So, to Jesse, this sign was giving him valuable information about where he definitely could NOT pee.  :)

boys.  :)

~audrey